New Hampshire House votes to divert tax funds away from Planned Parenthood

Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, January 18, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The New Hampshire House of Representatives on Wednesday morning voted to put Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers at the bottom of the list of eligible recipients of state family planning funds, further frustrating efforts by the Obama administration to keep the local abortion branch afloat.

Lawmakers passed HB 228 by a margin of 207 to 147, prioritizing state-controlled family planning dollars away from abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood. The funding is now prioritized to public and private entities that provide comprehensive health care to women and do not perform abortions.

The defunding language was inserted by Rep. Warren Groen (R-Rochester) as an amendment to the bill that now heads to the State Senate.

The measure represents the latest move in a tug-of-war between the state and the Obama administration over funding of Planned Parenthood.

Last September, the New Hampshire Executive Council filed a formal protest with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Government Accountability Office after the Obama administration awarded a non-competitive $1 million contract with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, bypassing the state’s earlier decision to reject taxpayer funding of the abortion giant.

Including New Hampshire, nine states have successfully defunded Planned Parenthood of over $61.7 million, states SBA List, which helped craft the bill.

“The House-passed bill ensures that taxpayer funds are prioritized to entities dedicated to providing comprehensive health care to women, not abortion,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B Anthony List. “This is a great victory in what has become a nationwide battle to stop taxpayer funding of abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood.”

“It is time to get New Hampshire taxpayers out of the abortion business,” said Michael Tierney, an Alliance Defense Fund-allied attorney in Manchester, New Hampshire. “Planned Parenthood’s business model is centered on abortion, and New Hampshire taxpayers want no part in it.”

“Every innocent life deserves to be protected. Taxpayer dollars should go toward helping and caring for the most vulnerable Americans, not killing them,” said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Mike Norton. “New Hampshire taxpayers should not be forced to fund abortions.”